Arteriosclerosis
This term describes the thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity in the arterial walls that reduces blood flow to tissues.
What is arteriosclerosis?
ACS is an umbrella term that includes these three conditions, ranging from chest pain at rest to a full heart attack.
What are unstable angina, NSTEMI, and STEMI?
CAD develops when plaque builds up inside these specific arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart muscle
What are the coronary arteries?
An MI happens when a blocked coronary artery cuts off blood flow and this tissue is injured and begins to die.
What is heart muscle (myocardium)?
A VSD is a hole in the septum between these two chambers of the heart.
What are the right and left ventricles?
This is the most common type of arteriosclerosis, marked by fatty plaque made of lipids, cholesterol, and calcium building up on the inner artery wall.
What is atherosclerosis?
This shared trigger sets off ACS — a plaque breaks open and a clot forms in a coronary artery.
What is plaque rupture leading to a clot (thrombus)?
This predictable type of angina is tied to exertion and is relieved by rest and nitroglycerin.
What is stable angina?
This ECG finding signals a STEMI — a full blockage of the coronary artery.
What is ST-segment elevation?
This noninvasive ultrasound test is the gold standard for diagnosing a VSD
What is an echocardiogram?
These two lipid goals — one "bad" and one "good" — are the cornerstone numbers nurses teach: under 100 mg/dL for the first, 60 mg/dL or higher for the second
What are the LDL goal (< 100 mg/dL) and the HDL goal (≥ 60 mg/dL)?
This memory aid guides early ACS treatment — morphine, oxygen, nitroglycerin, and aspirin — though you treat by priority, not naming order.
What is MONA?
This test is the gold standard for diagnosing CAD, threading a sheath to the heart and injecting contrast for imaging.
What is cardiac catheterization (coronary angiography)?
Five days after an MI, this cardiac marker is still elevated because it stays up for 10 to 14 days.
What is troponin (T/I)?
A VSD classically produces this loud, harsh murmur best heard at the left lower sternal border.
What is a holosystolic (pansystolic) murmur?
Patient teaching for arteriosclerosis always targets this group of risk factors — the ones a client can actually change, like smoking, diet, and blood pressure.
What are modifiable risk factors?
In this form of ACS, troponin stays normal because the heart muscle has not been permanently damaged yet.
What is unstable angina?
Before that gold-standard CAD test, you must ask about this allergy because the contrast dye is iodine-based.
What is a shellfish allergy?
You must check this rate for a full minute before giving a beta-blocker, and hold the dose if it falls below 60
What is the apical (or heart) rate?
Before giving digoxin to a child with a VSD, you check this for a full minute and hold the dose if it is below the age-based safe range.
What is the apical pulse?
When plaque ruptures in a weakened artery wall and the vessel balloons out, this dangerous complication can form.
What is an aneurysm?
These three patient groups often have a silent or atypical presentation, so you should never rule out ACS just because chest pain is absent.
Who are females, older adults, and clients with diabetes?
When taking a CAD client's blood pressure, you measure it in both arms and then use the reading from this arm.
What is the arm with the higher reading?
A large MI that damages and ruptures the septal wall can cause this acquired structural complication.
What is an acquired ventricular septal defect (VSD)?
When long-standing high lung pressure reverses the shunt to right-to-left and causes cyanosis, this serious, often irreversible condition develops.
What is Eisenmenger syndrome?